Wednesday 8th December

Mursal's opponent sacced a pawn in the opening but Mursal played well and the pawn down ending which is the occasional grim fate of the gambiteer loomed till a draw on time was agreed. Every time I looked at Azmiddin's game he seemed to be more and more material down. Kev seemed to be cooking up something on the King side but Ng1 with your Rook on h1 is no way to pursue an attack. A nifty Queen manoeuvre by his opponent to break through in the centre and the game was soon over. Dave obviously fancied a pint. He allowed a nice early symmetrical Bishop fork of his Rooks so he could get down to the real business of an evening at the Gardeners. Ian's good run continued as his opponent seemed determined to go into K against K ending. Ian used the exchanges to steadily improve his position into a good bishop/bad bishop ending. Recognising the position is one thing, taking advantage of it is another. Ian set up two targets. Only one could be defended. A similar story of exchanges in Eric's game but this time Eric's opponent broke through. A bad night for the C Team.